Since ancient times, the single word “heart” has been most capable of bewitching people.

What more when one has reached her level of cultivation?

The more one clarifies the mind and perceives one’s true nature to achieve the Dao, the more trials one must endure on this path, each more perilous than the last. Sometimes, when the opportunity arises, such contemplation often carries a very alluring name—

Sudden enlightenment.

In ordinary times, it merely refers to a thought that suddenly becomes clear.

But in the world of cultivators, this word possesses special meaning.

It refers to cultivators who, under certain opportunities, immerse themselves in a particular state of contemplative境界, rapidly and comprehensively gaining certain insights, with durations both long and short.

The short ones need not be mentioned—a snap of the fingers, an instant, three to five breaths.

The long ones are quite extraordinary.

Some cultivators’ sudden enlightenment takes three to five days, three to five months, three to five years, and even more extreme cases—three to fifty years, three to five hundred years!

In the enlightened one’s mind, it feels like merely a brief moment of thought passing by, yet the time of the mortal world may have already rushed by.

Beauty turns to withered bones, black hair becomes white.

In the span of a thought, a snap of the fingers, a cultivator’s lifespan might already be exhausted, turning into a handful of yellow earth.

What Jian Chou experienced just now couldn’t be called sudden enlightenment, but she had indeed sunk into that special contemplative state, seeking but unable to find answers, thus falling deeper and deeper.

The more solitary and devoted one’s path, the more difficult and dangerous what one encounters.

If one thought becomes clear and one emerges from it, there’s nothing to worry about. But if one thought remains unclear and one cannot emerge, perhaps after hundreds or thousands of years, others would only see a pile of withered bones beneath this building.

The wind blew, and her body still felt cold.

Her gaze, still carrying lingering fear, swept across the fragments scattered on the ground, across the spilled wine, and when she raised her eyes again, she had finally managed to gather her somewhat chaotic thoughts, at least appearing calm on the surface.

Then she lifted her gaze, meeting once again Qu Zhengfeng’s eyes that hadn’t moved at all.

Cold and condensed like wearing a layer of frost, perhaps seeing that she had finally awakened, he let out a cold laugh and turned to walk back.

His deep black silhouette disappeared behind the railing, and Jian Chou could no longer see him.

She hesitated for a moment, but perhaps this was heaven’s opportune coincidence? Having encountered him, how could she just turn and leave like this? Moreover, his earlier sharp shout had indeed been helping her.

So the hesitation lasted only that moment.

After that moment, she changed direction and walked directly into the wine house built beside the road.

Strangely, although it was a wine house, at this late hour, there wasn’t a single person in the main hall, only some exquisite tables and chairs arranged about, with names of dishes and wines hanging up.

Jian Chou didn’t know what territory this was.

But undoubtedly, regardless of whose territory this place originally belonged to, now that Qu Zhengfeng was here, it was all under the “Sword Emperor’s domain,” so there was no need to worry about anything else.

A lacquered wooden staircase was placed diagonally in the southeast corner.

After entering, she spotted it immediately, but at the same time, she heard some strange sounds from upstairs, as if from several women.

Faintly laughing and talking.

Jian Chou didn’t think much of it and continued climbing the stairs, but what she saw was quite unexpected.

The second floor of the wine house was also cold and deserted, with no other guests.

Qu Zhengfeng sat by the railing facing northwest, at a square table laden with jade plates of delicacies, all prepared from edible parts of various rare and exotic spirit beasts, with fine wine floating in luminous cups, reflecting the hazy moonlight above, yet obscuring the expression of the current drinker.

Several female cultivators dressed either seductively or elegantly attended at his side.

The laughter and conversation she had heard earlier had probably come from them.

When Jian Chou came up, she neither concealed her footsteps nor her aura, so they could easily detect her arrival.

A moment of silence.

The others didn’t matter much—Jian Chou barely paid them any attention.

Only one made her unable to look away.

Also a female cultivator, but arguably the most beautiful and alluring among them all.

Graceful and rich like a blooming peony, with nobility tinged with a carelessly languid air. Her slender waist was wrapped in robes of varied colors. Though there were clearly too many mixed colors, once outlined by embroidered threads that seemed to contain golden light, they all appeared as soft and compliant as cotton clouds, creating a gentle charm.

Yet that face was dazzlingly beautiful.

As if it wanted to nail everyone’s gaze firmly upon her, not allowing anyone to escape.

So in just that instant, Jian Chou already knew her identity: the one she had seen long ago at Zuoliu’s Silver Building, the newly ascended Grand Marshal of Tongguan Station on the demonic path, Shen Yao.

The other naturally saw her too.

She didn’t know when she had already been sitting here, and even upon seeing her, showed no surprise, only gracefully rising and slightly nodding her head.

“I wondered who it was—it’s fellow Daoist Jian Chou from Yashan. I’ve long admired your reputation. My apologies.”

The words were spoken very politely, but the meaning behind them somehow made one uncomfortable.

Jian Chou suppressed this subtle feeling, only thinking that this Shen Yao of mysterious origins also had many intriguing aspects. But she didn’t bring up matters of the demonic path.

At the moment, she only calmly returned the courtesy: “Grand Marshal Shen, I’ve long admired your reputation.”

As the two exchanged pleasantries, the other female cultivators looked at each other, not quite daring to speak.

The one who dared to speak happened to remain silent.

Qu Zhengfeng acted as if he saw nothing and felt nothing, completely unaware that Jian Chou had arrived. He took his cup and drank, then slowly poured himself another.

“Glug, glug.”

In the silent second floor, only the sound of wine pouring into the cup could be heard.

Shen Yao heard it, her gaze lingering on Qu Zhengfeng for a moment before falling back on Jian Chou, seeming to flash with a hint of interest, but then being replaced by a radiant smile blooming at the corners of her lips.

The four words “divine beauty” might have existed precisely because of her.

At this moment, she casually waved her hand at those female cultivators, walked gracefully to Jian Chou’s vicinity, and said with a slight blink: “It seems like heartbroken souls meeting heartbroken souls, Yashan people encountering Yashan people. The business is more or less finished, and I, an outsider from the demonic path, won’t make myself unwelcome here. You two have history—take your time catching up. The night of Mingri Xinghai is still very long.”

If the previous statement could still be attributed to Jian Chou’s misperception, then the implications in this sentence were genuinely worth Jian Chou’s deep consideration and contemplation.

Only…

Did this Grand Marshal of Tongguan Station have a somewhat “beautiful” misunderstanding about the relationship between her and Qu Zhengfeng?

Those female cultivators of mediocre cultivation who had been accompanying the drinking on this floor all tactfully left their seats, passing by her side like flowers swaying in the breeze.

She didn’t spare them a glance, only looking toward Qu Zhengfeng.

He sat in the corner, wearing a long robe of black brocade with gold thread, illuminated by the brilliant candlelight of the upper floor. The black merged with the night, while the embroidered golden patterns flowed with mysterious and ancient light.

The wine cup was already full.

But he didn’t stop, instead taking another empty clean cup from nearby, pouring wine into it. Only after the wine was full did he laugh once.

Jian Chou stood without moving.

But Qu Zhengfeng slowly raised his head, his cold and somber eyes illuminated by that brilliant light, flashing like obsidian with burning radiance, though it quickly dimmed again.

When he spoke, it was still with that acrid mockery that made one instinctively frown.

“Ah, it’s little junior sister. It’s been a long time since we’ve met.”

Little junior sister…

In the past, she was merely a Foundation Establishment junior, but today she was already a Void Refining great power.

Jian Chou naturally remembered why this form of address came about, and vaguely understood why he was addressing her this way now. Her heart felt complex for a moment, but she also laughed once, replying: “It has indeed been a long time since we’ve met, and a long time since I’ve heard that form of address.”